Wednesday, 14 November 2012

Tuesday, 13 November 2012

Monday, 12 November 2012

A trip down memory lane

Brazil is a Catholic country and 99% of the children in my school came from Catholic families, mainly of Italian origin. Our family didn't embrace any religion and thoughts about faith had never entered my young mind.

I was a typical tomboy, playing football (soccer) with the boys, climbing anything I could find and getting into trouble quite regularly.


When I was in the first year of primary school I was chosen to be an angel. Yes, an angel...

The children in the year above were ready for their First Communion and the lines of children were led by angels: one for the boys, one for the girls and one little angel walked in the middle. The little one was still in pre-school and her name was Daisy. The teacher in charge of the First Communion came to my class and selected a blonde girl called Ana Maria and... yours truly. My teacher went into a mild panic because she knew I didn't fit the role very well, quite the opposite. But the other teacher insisted on her choice and that was that.

A few weeks of rehearsals ensued and the priest (Father Miguel) was horrified at the sight of an angel brawling with the boys in the middle of the aisle. They called me matchstick angel and I didn't like it, that's all. The pre-school angel also got on my nerves because she kept going on and on and on about her gown, how much nicer it was because of the stars on the yoke and on the hem, while Ana Maria's and mine were rather plain.

The big day arrived and Father Miguel, the teachers, and I suspect also my parents, were worried in case I turned the whole thing upside-down. I didn't. I behaved really well during the actual event.


The trouble started at the party after the ceremony. Daisy was still making a big thing of her gown full of stars, so I tipped a cup of chocolate on her lap. She had to change into normal clothes and finally shut up!

I think they all learned not to mess with this angel...

Sunday, 11 November 2012

e-Hell


A woman arrives at the Pearly Gates and finds St. Peter is not there, but a computer terminal is sitting by the entrance.

She walks up to it and sees, "Welcome to www.Heaven.com. Please enter your User ID and Password to continue."

She doesn't have either, but underneath the fields is a small line reading:

"Forgot your ID or Password? Click Here." So she does.

Up pops a screen that reads, "Please enter at least two of the following and your password and ID will be e-mailed to you." The fields included "Name," "Date of birth," "Date of death," and "Favorite Food."

The woman enters her name and date of birth, and clicks "Submit."

Up pops another screen that reads, "We are sorry, we did not find a match in our database. Would you like to register?" So the woman clicks the button marked "Yes."

A long and detailed form appears on the screen, and the woman spends some time filling it out. Then she clicks the "Submit" button.

Now she is faced with a screen reading, "We are sorry, this service is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later."

There is a button marked "Back." She clicks it.

A new page appears.

It reads, "Welcome to www.Purgatory.com. Please enter your User ID and Password to continue..."


Saturday, 10 November 2012

Lovely owls





Photo by Ellen D. Hartlmeier. This owl is called Sarah and she is an educational bird at O.W.L. (Orphaned Wildlife Rehabiliation Society), a place that rescues and rehabilitates birds of prey. Sarah was born in captivity and is an ambassador for her species

I'm quite fond of these birds, they have very funny expressions...

Friday, 9 November 2012

Quickie

We had to do some grocery shopping today and returned home a bit late, so here's a quick funny one:


Thursday, 8 November 2012

The art of seduction

This year Sir David Attenborough celebrates 60 years making fantastic documentaries. He rated the following segment as one of his favourite moments:

Wednesday, 7 November 2012

Happy day

We ended up going to bed at 6:30 am, absolutely exhausted!

It was very nice to wake up to a brilliant sunny day. The sun seems to be in a celebratory mood as well.

Please click to enlarge

[Hey MrsG, there's some autumn colour out there!]

Finally, it's CC's special day. Happy birthday, dahhling! What a lovely gift you had, eh?

It's a very happy day!

Tuesday, 6 November 2012

Lovely pair

The other day I posted some photos of mothers and their babies. Today it's a father's turn...


Monday, 5 November 2012

Fingers crossed

We're gearing ourselves up for tomorrow's election. First things first, and the day will start with a visit to the dentist (poor Peter). We may take a nap in the afternoon, because we're very likely to stay up all night watching the results...

The first video is inspirational, but the second is VERY irreverent, very funny and NOT suitable for children or for work.

Go Obama!



Sunday, 4 November 2012

Still raining

We had a rain post yesterday, let's stay on the theme...


Friday, 2 November 2012

Life is short for some...

Melting Men is a series of art installations from the Minimum Monument project created by Brazilian artist Nele Azevedo. Since 2005, Azevedo has been setting up her Melting Men in various countries around the world. Although originally intended as a critic of the role of monuments in cities, environmentalists around the world are adopting her work as climate change art.

Usually the spectators help Nele to put the ice figures in place. Depending on the venue, they last 30 to 50 minutes.









Thursday, 1 November 2012

Mothers

I've been collecting photos on this theme for a while now. I find them very touching...











Wednesday, 31 October 2012

Yikes!

Shapeshifterbelly sent me an item that had appeared on Facebook:


I did a bit of googling and found better pictures of the spooky event:

Known as The Tufty Terror, this poor squirrel managed to get his head stuck in a Halloween decoration in Fareham, Hants, England.



Thank you, Shapeshifter.

Tuesday, 30 October 2012

Happy ever after?

Mrsgunka sent me this Halloween themed joke:

Two brooms were hanging in the closet and after a while they got to know each other so well, they decided to get married.

One broom was, of course, the bride broom, the other the groom broom.

The bride broom looked very beautiful in her white dress.


The groom broom was handsome and suave in his tuxedo.


The bridesmaids brooms looked lovely.


The wedding was fantastic.

After the wedding, at the wedding dinner, the bride broom leaned over and said to the groom broom, 'I think I am going to have a little whisk broom!'


'IMPOSSIBLE !' said the groom broom.

'We haven't even swept together!'

Thank you, MrsG.

[I'm aware that some readers are unable to visit the blog, as they have this horrendous hurricane Sandy on their minds, not to mention the strong possibility of being without power. Please stay safe.]

Monday, 29 October 2012

Halloween treats

I haven't tried to make these "attractive" treats, but they look perfect for Halloween!



Ingredients
2 packs (3 oz) Raspberry jello
1 pkg unflavored gelatin (for extra firmness)
3/4 cup whipping cream
15 drops green food coloring
3 cups boiling water
100 flexible straws (or enough to fill your container)
Tall container (1 quart or 1 liter carton of milk)

Directions
1) Combine gelatin in bowl and add boiling water.

2) Let it cool to lukewarm and then add the whipping cream and the 15 drops of food coloring.

3) Gather your straws (don't forget to flex them out) and put them in the container. It's important that the straws have a tight fit so the jello stays in the straws. For this reason, a 1 liter carton may be better; you will probably get longer worms since there is a tighter fit. If you have a bigger container, a rubber band around the straws is helpful. Or you could just add more straws to fill the container.

4) Add the gelatin mixture to the straw-filled container and let it set until firm.

5) There are multiple ways you can remove the worms from the straws. You can roll a rolling pin over the straws and squeeze them out or you can hold the straws over warm water. The worms will slip right out.